Turkey remembers victims of racist Solingen arson attack

ANKARA

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has shared a message to remember the victims of the 1993 Solingen arson attack, one of the most violent neo-Nazi attacks targeting Turks in Germany, urging politicians and members of the press abroad to work to prevent similar attacks.        

On May 29, 1993, four men aged between 16 and 23 that had ties to the neo-Nazi movement set fire to the home of the Genç family in the city of Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, killing three girls and two women and injuring 14 others.        

Three assailants were sentenced to 10 years in jail while the other convict was handed 15 years’ imprisonment.        
“Although 24 years have passed since the attack, the grief of the Turkish people is still fresh. We wish Allah’s mercy upon them,” the ministry said in a statement that was released on May 29.    
   
Xenophobia and Islamophobia are on the rise, especially in Western Europe, it said. 

“It is our hope that tragedies like the Solingen massacre will not occur again.” it said. “In this context, we call on prominent personalities, particularly politicians and representatives of the media in countries where these attacks frequently take place, to use unifying rhetoric, instead of divisive remarks and attitudes.”